Turning a suppressed pistol into a suppressed rifle

Active Member

I was wondering about the legality of buying a p556 or ar15 pistol and pinning a suppressor to the barrel to make it at least 16" in length and then putting a stock on it. Issues? *besides finding a suppressor that's going to be long enough to work.*

Well-Known Member

You CAN add a longer barrel to a pistol (i.e. permanently attach a barrel extension to come to the 16+" ) and then add a stock. No forms are needed for this. This would be legal in Washington. Once it is a rifle you cannot go back though. Also you couldn't shoot it in Washington unless you had a removable suppressor core.

Well-Known Member

Also any suppressor capable of handling 5.56 will be long enough to satisfy the 16+ requirement with a typical 10" barrel. Another way you could go is to have a barrel shroud permanently attached that would allow a detachable suppressor to be screwed inside the shroud like Tactical Solutions SBX barrel for the 10/22.

Active Member

The FFL you ship it to would need to be a class 2 SOT to legally handle the suppressed upper. You can just remove the barrel/silencer from the receiver (easy to do with AR-15 wrench) and send the receiver only for repair.

Member

You CAN add a longer barrel to a pistol (i.e. permanently attach a barrel extension to come to the 16+" ) and then add a stock. No forms are needed for this. This would be legal in Washington. Once it is a rifle you cannot go back though. Also you couldn't shoot it in Washington unless you had a removable suppressor core.

Click to expand...

Correct!!!!

Just make sure the barrel is 16" from closed bolt face to muzzle measured down the barrel. If you wish to add a flash-hider or a barrel extension, or even a suppressor it must be permanently attached.

To permanently attach a device it must be pinned/welded, welded or brazed on with 1100* solder.

AFTER the suppressor is attached... Then you may add a stock. It will now be a rifle, and can never go back to pistol status...

You could weld a tube onto the end of the barrel that brings out the barrel to 16" that the suppressor fits inside of. Then you could remove the suppressor to have it sent to your dealer/MFG for repairs and it is not a class 3 item.

Well-Known Member

The FFL you ship it to would need to be a class 2 SOT to legally handle the suppressed upper. You can just remove the barrel/silencer from the receiver (easy to do with AR-15 wrench) and send the receiver only for repair.

Ranb

Click to expand...

Any FFL can receive a silencer equipped rifle or pistol for service . It does not have to be a class 2 SOT.

Well-Known Member

Thompson Center carbine kit
Mech-Tech conversions
Beretta Neos carbine kit
Heck--even those old 1911 kits with a 16" barrel and a buttstock that
Numrich was selling---

All allow you to switch from rifle to pistol and back again at will, just
don't get caught with the short barrel and a buttstock installed at the
same time.

Click to expand...

Only the Thompson. They won a court case against the ATF. The rest are not legal according to the ATF to make a pistol a rifle and back again. The ATF maintains the court ruling ONLY applied to Thompson as it was sold as a complete kit with the gun. The rest are aftermarket kits that do not include the gun. To install them on a pistol makes the pistol a rifle and it cannot legally be reverted to a pistol without NFA registration.

Active Member

The barrel with the shroud is 3 oz lighter than my 16" 9mm barrel without as the tube is a close trade off in weight for the extra 8 inches of barrel of the 16" barrel.
the shrouded barrel with a can comes to 17 inches and handles better
than my 16" barrel with a can that comes to 24 inches long.
If it was ok to have a SBR in WA I wouldnt be making shrouded barrels

Active Member

The barrel with the shroud is 3 oz lighter than my 16" 9mm barrel without as the tube is a close trade off in weight for the extra 8 inches of barrel of the 16" barrel.
the shrouded barrel with a can comes to 17 inches and handles better
than my 16" barrel with a can that comes to 24 inches long.
If it was ok to have a SBR in WA I wouldnt be making shrouded barrels

Click to expand...

drilling the shroud full of holes would knock off even more weight i would suspect as well.

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